When it comes to destroying chemical arms, safety and the environment are more important than meeting timetables in a proposed global chemical-arms treaty, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday.
That, of course, is important to Utah, because 43 percent of all the nation's chemical arms are stored at Tooele Army Depot, where a $400 million incineration plant was just completed and is scheduled to begin arms destruction next summer.In a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing, Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said the Army believes it can destroy all the nation's chemical arms by Dec. 31, 2004 - a date already set by law and which would comply with a 10-year limit in the proposed Chemical Weapons Convention.
But he added that the military will not rush to meet it at the expense of safety or the environment.
Committee Chairman Sam Nunn, D-Ga., asked, "Even if we don't meet the time guidelines, we're going to put safety and environment first?"
"That's right," Shalikashvili said.
Assistant Secretary of Defense John Deutsch added, "If the program shows any sign of technical difficulty, we will make sure it operates safely."
The assurances of seeking safety came as Pentagon officials pushed for Senate ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention - a global chemical-arms ban they say will give them better tools to prevent the use and spread of such weapons.
But many senators questioned its value while announcing intelligence findings that Russia has cheated on similar treaties in the past and that many countries that produce chemical arms are not likely to sign or ratify the new treaty.
Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, said the Defense Intelligence Agency found that Russia for years has violated a similar treaty banning biological weapons and is still likely doing so. He and others said Russia is also apparently developing new binary chemical arms despite agreements not to do so.
Even so, Shalikashvili said, "The CWC gives us some tools that we do not now have to determine whether they are in standing violation," which America would not have otherwise.
That includes requiring a declaration of all existing chemical arms by member nations plus allowing routine inspections of arms facilities and inspection on demand of any facility suspected of producing, making or storing chemical arms.
Deutsch said old treaties banning germ warfare had no such inspection provisions - which made it much more easy to cheat.
Deutsch said the inspection provisions are not perfect and probably will not allow detection of small plants. But plants and storage areas large enough to meet the demands of "significant military operations" could be found.
Shalikashvili said the treaty would also impose trade sanctions on countries that do not sign, which could help control or prevent the shipment of "precursor" chemicals to them that are needed to make chemical arms.
He said ratification would also put the United States in better political position to seek others to destroy their chemical arms. The United States has already vowed to destroy its stockpile and to never use such arms under any circumstances regardless what happens with the treaty.
"In short, we are better off with it than without it," Deutsch said.
The treaty has been signed by 157 countries, but only nine have ratified it. It does not take effect until 65 countries ratify it. Many countries are waiting to see what action the U.S. Senate takes before they decide to ratify.